Utopian fiction - woodhouse

I'm struggling to make the shift from nonfiction to fiction. My day job is teaching political science, and I've published a fair number of books and articles on regulation of toxic substances, nanotechnology, and the future of technological civilization. I'm now writing my first fiction, a Utopian novel, and for me it's at least 10x as difficult as what I've done before. I expect I have something to learn from virtually all of you, and I appreciate those who have invested energy and expertise in developing this site.
-- woodhouse

Agreed, writing fiction can be much more difficult than non-fiction. If you are just starting out, I'd suggest writing some short stories. They will allow you to work out specific aspects of writing without the huge time investment of writing 100+ thousand words to wade through. Also reading short stories will expose you to many successful authors work faster. My old college short fiction class textbook is still one of my favorite resources.

Fiction and nonfiction have each their own characteristic challenges. Hopefully you will find many useful insights and recommendations here.

Please read How to Use the Writing Workshop before you try to post there. Posting your own writing for people to comment on should not be among the very first things you do here anyway. It is worth taking the time to see what other people have done to improve their writing, and see if some of it applies to your writing as well. That is part of why we require members to review other members' work before posting their own for review. On the other hand, there are no restrictions, other than content and copyright rules, on showcasing your work in your member blog.

Also, be aware that posting a piece of writing on any public site, including this one, will greatly diminish your chances of selling it for publication. Removing the writing later does not alter that fact - once posted, it is irreversibly considered published. So do not post anything more than a small excerpt of any piece you are planning to submit for publication.

If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Writing Prompts, or the Writing Workshop, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well, and be sure to read through the site rules, too, to avoid any misunderstandings or hurt feelings. Respect for one another is our principal mandate.

As for the Writing Workshop, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize constructive critique as a vital writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. We also impose a two-week waiting period before you may post writing for critique, to give you time to become familiar with what is expected and how the site operates. The Writing Workshop forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Writing Workshop forum). Also, please use the same thread for all revisions and additional excerpts from the same piece of writing. See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information.

And while you're looking around, don't forget to check out the RPG forum for improvisational fiction. Also try our Weekly Short Story Contest and Weekly Poetry Contest. They actually run more than one week apiece, but any member may enter, and all members are urged to vote for their favorites.